Hydroperoxide formation in different lean meats

Peroxide is one of the compounds that are indicated to be toxic in the human digestion system. Lean fresh meat samples were collected from beef, lamb, pork and chicken to investigate their hydroperoxide formation potential. Total peroxides of fresh comminuted raw meat were determined by analysing protein-bound peroxides and hydroperoxide compounds in water–methanol and chloroform extracted phases. The amount of total peroxides was ranked as: beef > pork > lamb > chicken. Hydroperoxide formation was examined at different pH values and at different incubation times, using beef and chicken samples. All peroxides were transient, with a maximum value after 2–4 h of incubation at 37 °C. When pH fell from 7 to 1.5, the different peroxides fell by 10–20%. Non-polar peroxide formation could largely (70%) be described by variation in fatty acid composition and hemin content of the meat, while protein-bound peroxide variation was less explained by these variables. Liposome addition increased (40%) the amount of protein-bound peroxides.